Chelsea suffered a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Arsenal in their most recent Premier League game. In a game that could have ended Arsenal’s title hopes, the Blues fielded one of their worst back fours this season. The team were without star player Cole Palmer. In his absence, Chelsea looked short of options on the attacking front.
The likes of Noni Madueke, Nicolas Jackson and Mykhailo Mudryk did not seem to trouble the Gunners’ backline much as they kept their 16th clean sheet of the season. After the match, fans were visibly disappointed and one fan even expressed his thoughts in the form of a placard. It said, ” I don’t want your shirt, I want you to fight for ours.” This certainly summarised the mood around the away end at the Emirates.
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino has been on the receiving end of criticism from many Chelsea fans since this defeat. They have been slamming his tactics and expressed how disappointed they are with his presence on the touchline. However, with just six games left in the season, is all of that justified?
Chelsea have a bigger problem than Mauricio Pochettino
Chelsea were up against an Arsenal team who are challenging for the Premier League trophy. They certainly were going to have problems as the Gunners had a strong team, while they needed players from the academy to fill their bench. All of that is no excuse for the performance the Blues had at the Emirates. They were not able to string passes together and Arsenal were able to easily pick them in the middle of the park to reign more terror on them.
Now a lot of this does come down to coaching as Pochettino could have gone with Thiago Silva and Trevoh Chalobah as centre-backs. But he decided to bring in Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashile in the lineup alongside Alfie Gilchrist and Marc Cucurella. This backline had never played alongside each other and it was clear to see in their performance against Arsenal.
However, the club also have to remember that they also have attacking shortcomings which stem from Cole Palmer’s absence. The 21-year-old has scored 20 goals and 9 assists in his debut season with the Blues. Without him, the team were expected to have problems on attack, but no one expected it to be this much. The Blues had only one shot on target all game and looked like a team that did not know what they wanted to do when they had the ball.
This all changes when Cole Palmer is in the lineup, but one thing that doesn’t is their poor finishing. The Blues have had a terrible season in terms of scoring obvious chances. This is due to the absence of a deadly striker and that is something that the club needs to address in the summer.
Nicolas Jackson who has been in the headlines for all the bad reasons had yet another embarrassing highlight last night. He was one-on-one in front of the goal and had to aim from only three yards out. The Senegalese forward somehow managed to shoot the ball off-target and this added to the Blues’ misery. Although Jackson possesses a lot of talent, he cannot play as a lead striker for a team like Chelsea. The club need to sign a born finisher if they want to have any chance of competing.
Chelsea have a lot of defensive woes
Chelsea have now conceded 56 goals this season, which is the most for them in their club history. This indicates how poor they have been at the back this season and a lot of that can be attributed to injuries. The team has not had a consistent back four and this has affected their performance this season. With Thiago Silva set to leave, the club need to look at other options if they are to improve from the back.
Wesley Fofana has been out all season and it was his absence that led to the team bringing in Axel Disasi. Although Disasi has been a consistent presence, he has a lot of mistakes in his game. Benoit Badisahile has been a shadow of his former self since returning from injury. He played a lot of games at the club last season and looked solid, but the Frenchman has failed to carry that into this campaign. He has had injury issues throughout the year and even when he is in the lineup, Badiashile has failed to have any impact.
Chelsea have a lot of defenders, but they now need to find the right balance to be solid at the back. The likes of Levi Colwill and Wesley Fofana have proven that they can start games, but their health has led to the team constantly switching their back two leading to yet another poor defensive season.
